According to Wolf(1997). most of the studies on fema le adolescent sexualities havebeen underta ken by adults who question and observe their young subjects. She argues that this has not been the most effectiv e way of gaining in-depth, detai led knowled ge of female ado lesce nt sexua lity because most teenagers would rather endure torture than reveal their sexual issuesto an adult inte rviewe r. Against this background, Iconducte d my study as a collaborative peer inquiry into adolescent fema le sexualities . While the participantsand I are no longer ado lesce nts, the memories of our adolescent sexual experiences provided the grounding of this study. My decision to undertake the study in this manner is supported by Clandininand Connelly (1994, p.425), who argue that perso nal experience methods perm it researchers to enter into and participate with the socialworld in ways that allow the possibi lity oftransformation and growth.
3.2.1 Interviews
I chos e to interview the wom en individuall y and in a focus group. The aim of the interviews was to collect in-depth data abo ut the adolesc ent sex ual experiences ofthe women and the interaction ofsuch experienc es with schoo ling . Kaplowitz (2000)argues that individ ual interviews are more likely to address socially sensitive discussio n topics
than fiJCU S groups, but I also believe that participants draw confi dence and a sense of
safety from being apart of an interviewgroup.
3.2.1.1 Semi-structuredone-on-one interviews
The use of semi-structure d interviews in eliciting information from the wom en was driven by the flexibility of such interviews inallowing the intervie wees more controlover the process (Patton. 2001) and guiding the tlow of their interaction with issues they consideredmore impo rta nt. Kvale (1996) notes that in interviews ,both the researcher and participants eo-create knowledge and meaning about the world around them. For this reaso n, I was very aware that my parti cul ar being and world-view could influence the respon ses of interviewees and my interpretations ofthe data espe cia lly because Iwas also going to interv iew mysel f.
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3.2.1.2 Focus group interviews
The choice for focus group discussions was based on the fact that they provide the researcher with a valuable tool for gaining insight into participants' opinions and experiences (Krueger, 1994) that may not be available with individual interviews. I also wanted to encourage participants to engage with one another, and to illuminate their perspectives through a debate on the issue s. The objective was to understand how these teachers experienced their adolescent sexualities, and to leam how they talk about sexuality, HIV and AIDS in their lessons.
Focus groups are described as an effective and relatively inexpensive, quick and convenient means of collecting data from several people simultaneously, while requiring relatively little structure on behalf of the interviewer (O'Brien, 1993; Krueger, 1994). In addition, focus groups arc important in the advancement of social justice for women because they can serve to expose and validate women's everyday experiences of subj ugation and their individual and collective survival and resistance strategies (Madriz, :WOO). The basis ofthe suitability of the focus group discussion in an African context is related to the tendencytowards communalism and groups as units of social activity.This communal spirit makes group interviewing a fairly reliable way of generating data in the African context (Obeng-Quaido, 1987), and hence Lesotho.
Morgan (1988) and Madriz (2000) regard focus groups as fundamentally unnatural settings for getting interview information. From a Western or North American perspective, their comment may be acceptable but not in Africa, where the predominant unit of activity in natural settings is the group. In effect, the group approach allowed me to discover information that might not have come up in one-on-one settings and encouraged the emergence of a plurality of opinions. In the single-sex group context, the se female teachers were afforded the opportunity and encouraged to bring out their expe riences of adolescent sexuality through support from each other. They were able to openly discuss the sensitive issues pertaining to their adolescent sexual experiences.
while it might have proved difficult to gct them to talk about their experiences in a
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mixed -sex group.The women also had the oppo rtunity to view othe rs ' perspe ctives and ultimatelyto active ly participateinthe construct ionoftheir own awareness and leaming.
3.2.2 Memory work
Memory work as a method was developed within the fields ofsociology and psychology.
It was formally labelled by the German socio logist and feminist scho lar Frigga Haug and a gro up of other feminist socialists in the sixties (Schratz et al, 1995), and continues to evolve within a feminist context. Some of the key people associat ed with feminist approaches to doing memory work include Crawfo rd et a! (1992) in Australia and Mitchell and Weber(1999)in the Canadi ancont ext. Samaras and Freese (2006) have also used memory work in their studies of teach er development and they argue that memory work is a self-study method used to represen t autobio graphical inqu iry with critical and refl ective revisiting,and hence it is a situated inquiry.
The pertinence of mem ory work is espoused by Mitchell and Weber (1999), who maintain that memory work is an excellent method for gaining insight into childhood. In their book "Reinventing ourselves as teachers: Beyond nosta lgia ", Mitch ell and Weber used memory work in a study with teach ers to explore their exp er iences of childhoo d in relation to their identity and practice as part ofprofe ssional development and to suggest how relevant memor y work is in gaining insight into the experiences of teachers and students. They also suggest ways in which teachers can work back through personal memories of schooltomak ethe past usable in their teaching,drawing in part icularon the systema tic and deliberate appro aches to memory work suggested by Crawford et a!
(1992),Haug eta! (1987),KulU1(1991) and Zand y (1995).
Haug et a! (1987) argue that the act of writing memory allows us to transgress boundarie s, to explore new territory, and to enter a place where we can take ourse lves seriously. In agreemen t, KulU1 (1995, p. S) maintains that those who engage in memory work "may be conscientise d simply thro ug h learn ing that they do indeed have stories to tell , and that their sto ries have value and significa nce in the wider world." The implication is that we store in memor y images ofvalue, even thou gh the value may be
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lost over the passage oftime . This is why Hampl (1996, p. 270) argues that memories of negative experi ences, especially painful incid ent s, are the most vivid in our minds.
MitchellandWeber (1999,p. 56)also believethat putting gri ef to good useis interesting.
For them "retr iev al of those memor ies can influence one's work both in the classroom ancl professional life gene rally." In that perspective, DeH ay (1994) rem inds us that remembering is also the process of recl aiming and protecting a past that is often suppressed by dominant culture, and in this sens e it is essential in the processof "gaining control over one' s life" (p. 43-44). Remembering, as suggested by Mitchell and Weber (1999, p. 9), is an act of private and person al nostalgia. Used within the education context, thi s personal nostal gia helps teachers to reflect on their own schoo ling and how they can develop to improve their teaching. Allender and Allender (2006, p. 15) argue that unless we as teachers are conscientio usly aware of what is driving our choices of behaviour in the classroom,we are likelyto revert to the waysof the teach ers who taught us. Our past experi ences crea te hidden person al narra tives abo ut educa tion, school, and schoo ling that have a profound and sometimes intractable impact on the way we teach our stud ents (Sama ras, Hicks. & Berger 2004. p. 908). Henc e self-awareness is essenti al to breakin g with non-function al teaching behaviours in an effort to discover personal strengths as classroom teachers.
3.2.3 Autobiography
Feminist research allows fo rthe use of experien ce asdata, hence in this exploration ofthe adoles cent sexual experienc es of female science teachers I also used my kno wledge and experiencesas data. Cole and Knowl es(~OO1)point out that auto biography is a structured account of life written by and about onese lf. As
r
embarked on my autobiography . Iwas aware of the challenges to the use of autobiography as data. These involve lack of obj ectivity, lack of scientific evidence, and a reliance on mem ory. Becau se of these, Smi th and Watson (1998) claim that wom en' s autobiographical writ ing was not deemed appropriate ly comp lex fo r academ ic dissertation s before the seventies. In addition, when used in researc h, an autobiogra phical approach involves the researcher in self- examina tion and scrutiny whose potential effec tis exposure to emoti onal threat. Despite30
these challenges, my conviction in using autobiography was strengthened by the idea that women who would read my autobiographical writings would experience them as minors of their own unvoiced experiences.
Several feminist researchers have noted that women researchers often choose topics which mean something to them, and argue that drawing from and theorising on one's own personal experience is valuable (Cotterill and Letherby, 1993; Stanley and Wise, 1993;
Ribbens and Edwards, 1998). My topic was also chosen because I had personal experiences relating to it and it was of meaning to my development as a woman science teacher and researcher. Some writers, however, have been critical of the inclusion of personal experience as data (see Kelly et al. 1994, pp. 29 - 32).
3.2.4 Questionnaire
I am not referring to a typical questionnaire for surveys or opinion polls, but a set of questions whose answers would help to guide the third session of focus group discussions.A list of questions from adolescent girls to the agony aunt column ofPeople magazine was used to produce this questionnaire. The purpose of the questionnaire was for the participants to respond to questions from adolescent girls, in order to analyse their responses in relation to their adolescent sexual experiences and classroom practice. This questionnaire was used to guide group discussions on how we thought our adolescent sexual experiences have influenced our teaching. Information produced through the questionnaire and the discussions was to help in answering the second research question:
What impact do these teachers think their adolescent sexual experiences have had on their conduct as teachers,especially in the context of the sexuality, HIV and AIDS classroom?